Drawer locking mechanism for trunks



Aug. 2, 1932- E. o. SUELFLOW ET AL DRAWER LOCKING MECHANISM FOR TRUNKS Filed May 19, 1930 2 Sheeis-Swet (5M0 Jwf /od ym? MJ/X/ Gm N N wmmw Aug. 2, 1932- E. o. SUELFLOW ET AL 1,370,150

DRAWER LOCKING MECHANISM FOR TRUNKS v Filed May 19, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 2, 1932 ITED STATES. PATENT QFFIE EMIL O. SUELFLOW AND JOHN MEIDL, OF OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOB-S, IBY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE IBELIBER TRUNK & BAG COMPANY, OF WOODBURY, NEW JER- v SEY, A. CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA DRAWER LOCKING MECHANISM FOR TRUNK$ Application filed May 19,

This invention relates to a drawer locking mechanism and more particularly one for simultaneously looking and unlocking a plurality of drawers arranged one above the other as in the drawer section of a wardrobe trunk;

In our co-pending application, Serial No. 453,605, filed May 19, 1930, there is disclosed and claimed a drawer locking mechanism particularly adapted for a regular wardrobe trunk. In such trunks, the drawer. section is relatively deep, and suflicient space is afforded from front to rear of the section to permit the use of a long-armed bell-crank lever to give the relatively wide range of lateral movement required for the drawer locking bar to the rear of the drawers within the limits of the relatively short movement allowed for the manually operable pullout member by which the owner or user of the trunk actuates the bar to lock and unlock the drawers. Regardless of the depth of the section, the extent of endwise movement of the pull-out member must be kept within certain limits, as the member when pulled out to unlock the drawers must not unduly extend out of the section to an unsightly or inconvenient extent.

In a steamer wardrobe or other trunk in which the drawer section is relatively shallow, substantially the same extent of move ment is allowed for the pull-out member as in the deeper trunk. With the section shallow, a short-armed bell-crank lever is required in order to operate within the confines of the distance from front to rear of the section. This means that the throw of the bell-crank lever is necessarily short and could not of itself give the looking bar the extent of movement required to unlock the drawers. To compensate for this, we provide an additional lever and mount it in the section to the rear of the drawers and thus permit the use of a lever long enough to increase the effective throw of the bell-crank lever to move the locking bar to the extent required regardless of the shallowness of the trunk section.

The locking mechanism of our present invention is well adapted to steamer ward- 1936. Serial No. 453,606.

robes wherein the drawer section is shallow and consists in the features hereinafter described and claimed:

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a steamer wardrobe trunk of the center opening type equipped with a drawer locking mechanism of our invention;

Fig. 2 is a View looking into the drawer section of the trunk to show the drawer looking mechanism therein; V

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on line M of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 2 to show a detail of construction.

In the drawings, 1, 2 indicate the hinged together upright sections of a steamer wardrobe trunk. 1 is the wardrobe section, and 2 is the drawer section, the latter containing a plurality of containers 3, 3 arranged. one above the other as in trunks of this design. The top and the two bottom containers are in the form of drawers slidably mounted in the section and removable therefrom. The second container is in the form of a tray pivoted at its lower front edge in the section.

Located in the section 2 at its rear wall at is a vertically disposed locking bar 5 extending substantially the full height of the section. The bar 5 is pivoted at its lower end to a plate 6 which is riveted to the wall 4 adjacent the bottom of the section.

Upright cleats 7, 7 are secured in the section 2 at the innermost corners thereof and provide stops for the containers 3, so that when closed they do not contact with the rear wall 4. Thus, a space isprovidedbetweensaid rear wall and the rear ends of the containers to accommodate the bar 5 and the other fixtures used therewith at the rear of the containers. Hook-shaped keepers 8, 8 are provided on the rear walls 9 of the three lower containers, the keepers being designed and arranged, as shown in Fig. 5, to take over the bar 5 from oneside in looking the containers by the bar. The bar 5 when in locking position stands vertical, as shown in Fig. 2, and the keepers 8 are all on the same side of the bar, so that the latter when swung laterally away from the keepers will free the same and unlock the containers as shown in dotted lines in said figure.

For swinging the bar 5, we provide abellcrank lever 10 above the uppermost of the drawers and fulcrumed at 11 to a plate 12 which is secured to the under side of a horizontal partition wall 13 forming a part of the dome structure at the top of the section 2. The lever 10 is arranged for movementin a plane parallel to that of the wall 13 and has its longest arm ext-ending toward the rear wall 4 of the section, and connected by a link 14 with the upper end of a straight lever 15 which is mounted for movement in the section to the rear of the containers in a plane at right angles to the movement of the lever 10. Lever 15 is located below lever 10 and is fulcrumed between its ends, as at 16, on a plate 17 secured to the rear wall 4 of the section well below partition wall 18. The lower end of lever 15 is connected by a link 18 with bar 5, the link being pivoted at its ends to the bar and the straight lever 15, respectively. The end of the link 14 at the bell-crank lever 10 is overlapped thereby and is directly pivoted thereto. The other end of link 14 is pivoted to the straight lever 15 through an angle-shaped connector 19 which permits the connection of link 14 with lever 15 even though the two are arranged in planes at right angles to each other. The upper portion of the bar 5 passes through a guide bracket 20 secured to the wall 4 and being long enough for the range of lateral swinging movement required by the bar to lock and unlock the three lower containers. Another guide bracket 20 may be employed for the bar further down the same to prevent springing or warping of the bar between the upper bracket and its lower pivoted end.

A pull member 21 in the form of a flat strip of metal is slidably mounted on the under side of the partition wall 13 in straps 22, 22, as shown in Fig. 3. The member 21 has a pin and slot connection with the short arm of the lever 10, as shown in Fig. 3. The pin 23 is preferably carried by the member 21, and the slot 24 is in the short arm of the lever, so that the lever will be swung about its fulcrum 11 in the endwise movement of the member 21. The outer end of the member 21 is accessible from the exterior of the containers, due to the fact that the outer end of the member extends through a recess in the lower edge of a molding 25, which forms the outer wall of the dome structure of the trunk. To facilitate grasping the member 21, the latter is provided at its outer end with a pull 26, which as shown in the drawings, is in the form of a loop or bail having a hinge connection with the member, so that when the member is moved inward to its fullest extent to lock the containers, the bail may be swung down and overlie the front 01 the uppermost drawer 3 and thus not interfere with the clos ing together of the trunk sections 1, 2. lVhen the member 21 is pulled outward, the bar 5 is moved to unlock the containers, whereas wl en the member 21 is pushed inward the bar is moved to lock the containers.

To lock the member 21 against unauthorized movement when the containers are locked, we provide a key-operable lock 27 on the inside of the front wall of the uppermost drawer 3. The lock has a bolt 28 which is projected into a keeper slot 29 in the member 21. The belt enters a slot in a metal facing plate 30 which is secured in the recess through which the member 21 extends as shown in Fig. 4. lVit-h the bolt 28 on the upper drawer, the latter is locked when the pull member 21 is locked and thus said drawer does not need a keeper 8 or other means to be engaged by the bar 5 which serves as the lock for the lower containers.

The pull-member 21 is disposed midway between the upright side walls of the section 2, and is thus centrally located above the containers to give a symmetrical appearance to the fixture in the trunk. The bell-crank lever 10 and the straight lever 15 are on opposite sidesof the pull-member 21, when the containers are unlocked as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. The lever 15 being mounted on the trunk wall 4 may be made as long as nec essary to multiply the throw of the bell-crank lever 10 and thus give the bar 5 the extent of movement required to lock and unlock the containers regardless of the depth of the section 2. lVith the bar 5 arranged to lock the containers in vertical position, the range of movement required "for the bar to release the keepers 8 is not very great with the result that the link 14 need not be undul long.

The details of structure shown and described may be variously changed and modified without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention. Instead of a tiltable tray in section 2, all of the containers 3 may be in the form of sliding drawers.

We claim as our invention:

1. A locking mechanism, comprising in combination with a container housing section having a plurality of containers therein arranged one above the oth r, a bar mounted in said section to the rear of the containers for simultaneouslv locking and unlocking the same, two levers mounted in the action for movement in planes at right angles to each other for moving the bar, one lever being the actuating lever and the other the multiplying lever for the first one, and links, one connecting the levers together and the other connecting the multiplying lever to the bar.

2. A locking mechanism, comprising in combination with a container housing section having a plurality of containers therein arranged one above the other,a bar mounted in the section to the rear of the containers for simultaneously locking and unlocking the same, a bell-crank lever and a straight lever, both mounted in the section and disposed for movement in planes at right angles to each other, and links, one connecting the levers together and the other connecting the straight lever with the bar.

3. A locking mechanism, comprising in combination with-a container housing section having a plurality of containers therein arranged one above the other, a bar mounted in the section to the rear of the containers for simultaneously locking and unlocking the same, a bell-crank lever and a straight lever, both mounted in the section, the bellcrank being disposed above the containers and arranged for movement transverse to the bar, the straight lever disposed to the rear of the containers and arranged for movement in the plane of the bar, and means connecting the levers together and the straight lever with the bar.

4:. A locking mechanism, comprising in combination with a container housing section having a plurality of containers therein arranged one above the other, a bar mounted in the section to the rear of the containers for simultaneously locking and unlocking the same, a bell-crank lever and a straight lever, both mounted in the section, links, one connecting the levers together and the other connecting the straight lever to the bar, and a pull-member mounted in the section and connected with the bell-crank lever for actuating the same, said pull member being accessible from the exterior of the containers.

5. A drawer locking mechanism, comprising in combination with a drawer containing section having a tier of drawers therein, keepers on the rear of the drawers, a bar mounted in said section to the rear of the drawers and movable into and out of looking engagement with said keepers, a bell crank lever mounted in said section above said drawers, an endwise actuating member for the bell crank lever connected with one arm of the same, a rock lever mounted in said section to the rear of the drawers, a link connecting the other end of the bell crank lever to said rock lever, and a link connecting the rock lever to the bar.

6. A drawer locking mechanism, comprising in combination with the drawer containing section having a tier of drawers therein, keepers on the rear of the drawers, an upright bar pivoted at its lower end to said section and movable into and out of locking engagement with said keepers, a bell crank lever mounted in the upper portion of the section above the drawers and disposed for movement in a plane at right angles to the plane of movement of said'bar, a link connected to one end of said bell crank lever, a

tures.

EMIL O. SUELFLOW. JOHN MEIDL. 

